Antique gold stator sold for record price at Swiss auction

A rare ancient Greek coin sold for a record $6 million at an auction held on May 19 at the Numismatica Ars Classica auction house in Zurich.

A 2,400-year-old gold stater minted around 340-25 BC has been purchased by a private collector, according to Artnet magazine.

The coin, known as the Panticapaeum stater, in honor of the ancient Greek city on the territory of modern Crimea, on the obverse has an image of a wide-eyed satyr, and on the reverse of a griffin holding a spear in its beak.

The high price is explained by the quality of the coin, its rarity and the fact that the supply of such specimens is extremely limited.

Artnet reports that the coin was part of the collection of the State Hermitage, but was sold in 1934 as part of the Stalinist policy of selling works of art in order to obtain foreign currency intended to finance the first five-year plans.

The coin was purchased by the French industrialist Charles Gillet.

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